Mah oblaan Monahvenby The PsychopathChaptersFalling off the Throat of the WorldI am in controlReaper's ScytheThe King Dragon and the Royal EjgeFalling off the Throat of the WorldSolv Skog stood on the snows of the Throat, taking in the blistering cold of the mountains. The skies were dark at this altitude despite it being day, but the Nord could not think of anything but his task at hand. It was his duty, as dovahkiin, to slay Alduin the World Eater. Since the day he was sent to the Gray Beard elders, he knew of this task, but he wasn't ready. He knew this much. To prepare himself, he traveled the world in search of training and new equipment. He came across a ship of a frightened sailor near Windhelm and traveled to the island of Solstheim where he, as the last dragonborn, defeated the first with the help of the local Nords and a daedric prince. The trophies of Miraak were great, but they were far too tainted for Solv's soul, so he placed them in safe keeping. He gained experience and new shouts a well as a few enchanted ebony armor, but this did not sate his needs. Traveling back to Skyrim, Solv gained the knowledge of the mages at the College of Winterhold where gained the power of the Archmage and the ability to summon even daedras. He was not yet ready. The dragonborn travelled far and wide in Skyrim once more, discovering old dwemer ruins, vampiric secrets, and fought with many more dragons allowing him to awaken more shouts. Finally, after all his training and learning, the dragonborn had adorned himself with dragonbone armor and weapons and held the Elder Scroll of Dragon in his hands. His armor and weapons had been covered by the blood of many daedra in his travels as well, enhancing the weapons with the power to sense demonic evils and banish them from the world as well as an armor capable of resisting all but the most foul of spells. With this new equipment, Solv was ready to learn the words of hate and defeat Alduin once and for all. Paarthurnax, one who used to be the last of his kind, stood atop the wall of draconic inscriptions and looked at the might dovahkiin with pride, but also with fear. He had quite the story to tell unto his grand children, and his dealings weren't all too pure despite his intentions. Still, the light shone upon the grounds and Solv took a deep breath. "Dovahkiin, I have taught you what I could and have sent you to far reaches of Skyrim, yet you have discovered our kind even were they were not thought to be. For this, I thank you. You have grown strong and have not let this power cloud your judgment and truthful beliefs, and for this, the world thanks you. Now, you must gaze upon the Elder Scroll of Dragon and discover what the words that even we dare not speak are. Step within the light of the Time Wound and let the scroll show you what happened so many centuries ago." "I...I am not certain I am ready for such a thing," Solv said with hesitation. "Are you not dovahkiin? Are you not one who killed Miraak and used Hermaeus Mora to teach you the words to conquer a dragon? You have even stopped the vampires from engulfing the world in eternal darkness." "How do you know of this?" "Dovah tinvaak goes far, young one. Take your ahkrin and let it envelop you." The Nord did just that and slammed his right hand on his chest. "You are right! I may be dovahkiin, but I am also a Nord! We fear nothing!" "GEH FUS! Now read the scroll. It will show you the words." The Nord took his courage, as instructed, and stepped into the light. As he unfurled the scroll, the Time Wound broke open and could be seen through the material of the scroll. Thanks to the blessing of the moths, the dragonborn could read the scroll without fear of being permanently blinded or having his sight fail him gradually. As he viewed something within his sight, he heard a slight whisper of something. He did not know what it was. It felt as if words had been spoken that reached across countless worlds and had finally reached a dragonborn, but...these words weren't good words. Solv felt his consciousness slowly slipping away from reality as Paarthurnax seemed to be getting angry about something and seemed to be fighting against...another dragon? Alduin? No. He wasn't the most discrete and would have attacked the dragonborn first. This brightening sight soon disappeared completely as Solv Skog felt himself falling into a warm abyss of pure white light. "Have I been killed? Am I going to Sovngarde before completing my final quest? It cannot end this way. I refuse it...but I have no energy. I cannot move," Solv thought to himself. "You are not dead, dovahkiin," spoke a powerful voice in the aether. "What? Who has spoken? Is it you, Mehrunes Dagon? Still furious that I tricked you into reforging the dagger?" "N-no...You tricked him? Most impressive. Perhaps there is hope for you yet, but for now, you must remain calm. A voice has called your body through the Time Wound, and you are being sent to another world." "What? Tell me your name first." "I am Tiber Septim, the one you call 'Talos'." "It is the highest honor for a Nord to by you. What are you here to tell me about that is so dangerous it requires a deity to speak to about it?" "All I can tell you is that Alduin was not the only one to be cast across time, but the entity who is calling you now is of a terrifying origin." "Tell me of it, and I shall slay it in the name of the Nine Divines!" "It will not be so simple. This is a dovah of daedric origins." "What? How is this possible?" "I do not know. It is a secret that the daedric princes have guarded well, unfortunately. It was cursed and sent to whatever Oblivion hole that even we cannot see as we are limited to Nirn. It has often shouted for a dragonborn, but it has never succeeded. It seems that, with the tear, a shout of the past has reached you and you are being sent to his new world." "Then what is the problem? I have fought many daedric abominations and defied many of the princes." "Because this one requires the soul of a dovah or a dovahkiin to be reborn. You will not inhabit your own body, but you will inhabit his. I fear that you will both share the same body, but you must remain strong and suppress him." "But...Such a fate. How am I to return to Skyrim and fulfill my duty?" "You are reaching a point where I and the other eight cannot see or hear you, so all I can tell you is to seek the Silver Dragon. His is an entity of great age who travels often to worlds that even we do not know of and has bizarre powers. Be wary when you meet him, for he has proclaimed himself as a demon hunter and actively hunts demons when they are near him. I must go now. Be strong, dovahkiin. Not all curses destroy." "Talos, wait! I have many more questions concerning this daedra and the Silver Dragon! Please! Come back!" Tiber Septim did not answer, so Solv accepted his fate. As he continued to fall down, he eventually found his column of white crumble into pure darkness and, just as quickly as this happened, felt himself land painfully on something that quickly closed around him. As he grabbed the bars of his new cage, he saw two orange eyes with sparkling orange flames crackling around them. They were full of rage and hunger, but this did not deter the dragonborn. Instead, he stood up with pride and envy to combat this new foe. "Who are you? Tell me your name at once, abomination!" "Hahaha!" the dragon boomed. The mouth of this beast glowed with a bright orange, illuminating his face. The dragon's head was enormous and had the same strange blackish growths that daedric armor possessed. It was unnatural and seemed inorganic." "Nii hadrim hahnu zaam zu'u. Jul mey. Zu'u lost tiid fah daar fah pogaan eruvossetiid. Zu'u kiinpogaan naal hin siil!" As soon as these words were spoken, words that Solv still did not know, he saw the mouth of the dragon going towards him and, finally, devouring him. Daisypace was a growing city near the Dissirvian mountains at the border of the Griffin Kingdom. They were at the base of the giant stone pillars and were growing ever so slightly thanks to their textile making and mining. One such mining operation had started in a new vein, but this vein was special. There seemed to be a brand new red mineral that had been discovered, and a select few ponies had been chosen to mine them out very delicately. Geode Yellow was one such pony. His yellow coat and green mane and tail had become practically gray and brown from dust and dirt while he crushed through the stone with his pickaxe. He was exhausted. "Ugh. Why do WE have to mine this crap? It's probably just some volcanic product from long ago that isn't even worth a horseshoe," he complained as he leaned on the pickaxe and wiped his forehead. "Because we were chosen for it. Don't forget that we unlucky sods are going to get a delicious bonus after mining at least two mine carts full of these things even if they're worthless," Dim Light answered further away. "He's right. For every two carts we get out, we'll get around a hundred bits...each!" Blueberry added. "A HUNDRED?!" Dull Gem shouted. The crazed stallion began to sash violently into the stone, prompting Geode to shake his head in disapproval. "That still doesn't save us from the crazy instability of this part of the caverns. Plus, with all the pounding that ravenous rock parasprite is doing, everything will cave in on us. And plus, why would the investors even pay that much if these things are worthless?" "Could be worse. There could be gem spiders here. You know how they get when we try to mine," Blueberry said. "I try not to," Geode answered with a frown. "Poor Carrot," Dim Light looked down in sadness as he said that. Geode Yellow sighed and readjusted his helmet. "Well, might as well get back to work. Could you guys check the lining here? I think I'm seeing micro fractures in the mineral wall here." As soon as the stallion finished his sentence, the cave began to shake violently, prompting the three other miners to cover their heads by instinct. Little stones and more of the transparent red rocks began to fall from the ceiling. "What is...Hey HEY! Dull Gem! Calm down! You won't get the bits of we all die here!" Dim Light shouted. "But there's tons more behind here! I can feel it!" "That doesn't matter! We stopped mining there because the walls were too thin and fragile!" The crazed pony continued anyways. The others tried to stop him, but it was too late. The ceiling collapsed on everypony, snuffing out the candles they had placed everywhere for light. They would have been crushed too, if Dim Light didn't erect a shield around them. Once the dust had cleared and the shaking stopped, he dropped the shield and nearly collapsed as well from the effort. Blueberry managed to catch him in time. After making sure he was okay, Geode turned to face Dull Gem who was still panting with his pupils shrunk. He was clutching the pickaxe between his two forelegs while he sat on his rear. He wasn't sat for long as Geode punched him in the back of the head, then lift him up and started choking him. "What's the matter with you?! You nearly killed us. By the Destroyer, I WILL kill you!" "B-but...l...look...!" Dull Gem struggled to say as he pointed forward. "What? What is it?!" "Let...Let me do it," Dim Light said. "Are you sure you're up for this?" "Yes. I'm certain." "Okay. Don't force yourself." With some concentration, the stallion managed to illuminate the cave with an orb of white light. It didn't take long for it to illuminate what looked like a crystallized stream of the red mineral. It had even trickled down the tunnel exit a bit. Geode let go of the crazy stallion and looked at the stream with amazement. "It's a river of the minerals," Yellow said. "And it seems we're locked in. We might have a rescue team coming soon, so I suggest we wait here in the mean time," Blueberry suggested. "Look at this. How is such a formation possible. It's as if the stuff is blood that drained from its host's body," Geode gasped as he followed the trail. "Geode...Wait here...It's not worth it..." Dim begged. "I know, I just want to see how far this goes. It might lead to the sou-Oof!" The stallion slammed against something as he was gently tapping the floor to make sure he wasn't going to fall down a hole. "Ow. What is this? Dim, could you shine your ironically bright orb over here?" "Aha. Another joke on my name. This coming from one whose name is just a mineral vein and a color," Dim replied. Geode was going to reply as well, but Blueberry stopped them. The orb gently levitated in front of Geode to reveal not a wall but a dragon skull. "A dragon skull?!" Dull Gem yelled. "That explains the form of this source. It's crystallized dragon blood," Geode realized. "But how did it get embedded in the rock?" Blueberry wondered. Suddenly, an orange light began to shine behind Yellow with a mind numbing hum. Turning around, he saw that the creature's eyes had somehow reformed. "By the Creator, it's alive?!" Geode shouted. Unfortunately for the poor stallion, he was crushed under the skeletal claw of the dragon as it pushed its claws down through the stone. The cave began to cave in once more, but it did so in a violent manner. Outside, a rescue team had already begun to dig through the wreckage, but the violent tremors caused them to work even harder. They didn't know what was about to rise out of the mountain. With one violent explosion, the dragon skeleton blasted through the stone, throwing many blocks onto nearby buildings and unfortunate passer-bys. "What in the Abyss is that?!" a mare shouted. The skeleton moved and twisted slowly as flesh began to reform onto it like a misty shadow. Once it finally began to form around the skull yelled: "Zu'u los Dinoksildov. Pah dovve faas zu'u, fah zu'u dinok do dovah ahrk dovahkiin!" It then looked at the town below and, once more, shouted: "Yol Toor Shul!" An inferno of flame erupted from the muzzle, engulfing the small city and its residents in flesh-searing flame. Author's Note For those who need it (and because I'm not exactly sure I'm using it right) here's where I got the words of dovah tinaak Here's what I intended with the first sentence (you have to rough it) "Nii hadrim hahnu zaam zu'u. Jul mey. Zu'u lost tiid fah daar fah pogaan eruvosse. Zu'u kiinpogaan naal hin siil!" "It thinks to command me. Foolish human. I have waited for this for many centuries (years time). I am reborn by your soul!" I am in controlPonies were fleeing left and right as their small city rose up in purple flames and black smoke. The dragon's flesh was reforming as it began to pull itself out of the rock. It was taking on a flayed-flesh appearance with strange protrusions coming from the shoulders and the top of the head. It seemed to be laughing as it continued to expel a demonic flame upon the little ponies below it. These sort of things were practically impossible, so nopony knew what to do. Instead, they just ran in circles or towards the borders of Daisypace. Dinoksildov laughed powerfully as he watched his prey run for their lives. "Hahaha! Ru malkeyye! RU!" he bellowed. A small foal began to cry in the streets as it couldn't find its parents. Their fate was something that would be best left unspoken of. The little foal was snatched up by a passing couple and taken away just in time for a rock to land where the tiny pony had previously been. Another roar bellowed through the sky as the reawakening dragon stretched his reforming wings. As he gazed once more upon his work of art, Dinoksildov witnessed a single, elderly pony glowing with ancient red runes. He stood firm and glared at the dragon with unbridled fury. Even when the others smacked into him and houses began to crumble around, he stood firm. "Hm? Daar Los?" "It has been said that the ancient, demonic dragon bones in the mountain would one day reawaken, and so I shall uphold the mission my ancestors upheld as demon hunters and reawaken the Banisher!" The elderly stallion began to tap his body in various areas while chanting various words unknown to the daedric dovah. It only took a final word for the runes to raise themselves from his body, taking away his life force as a sacrifice, and heading underground near the outskirts of the town. Besides the screaming and crackling of flame, not much else happened, but the dragon was curious. He leaned a bit further from his former tomb as his body was just finishing its reforming and stretched his neck upwards to get a better view. He hadn't gotten his lower legs out of the stone yet. Just like the dragon, something began to rise up from the ground as a harmless mound of dirt. One long leg pierced through and slammed on the ground, then another, and another, until eight legs were above ground. It didn't take long for the main body to follow. The creature was a dragon sized spider covered with the glowing red runes and who seemed to be undead. It coughed up various poisons from its mouth, charring the ground in the process. "The demonic dragon from another world. I thought you were going to stay under the mountain for all eternity," it spoke with a raspy voice as though gasping for air. "What manner of creature are you? From what deity do you hail? Akatosh? Arkay? Kynareth?" "I know not of these deities. I am a creation of the God of Bindings: Bomafoon of the Zebras." "Haha! What a ridiculous name. And what do you plan to do to me? Kill me? Seal my soul once more?" "In a tighter casket this time." From afar, a patrol of the Royal Guards had seen the entire event and were rather traumatized by the whole thing. "What in Equestria is that thing?" a guard whisper shouted. "It's a dragon and a giant zombie spider..." another answered. "I know that, but what is that dragon? I've never any of its ilk before." "Perhaps it is why the dragons and the ejge have been getting riled up as of late. It has been over four centuries since the great ones had been born," a third soldier said. The other two shushed him. "Quiet! We don't want any prying ears to hear that the war is coming. We need to report to Princess Celestia at once! Now let's go!" the first guard insisted. "Wait...what's it doing?" the second guard wondered aloud. The three pegasi turned to face the danger from afar to see that the dragon had green smoke emanating from its mouth and the spider had lost two legs. "Viidost Su Faaz!" the dragon bellowed. A torrential cloud of green mist funneled at the spider, chipping away at its body and causing the unfortunate pieces who didn't fly off to gradually melt into a sludge. The monster began laughing as it saw its power returning to it little by little. Full of fright, the pegasi flew off towards the castle to announce of the impending menace. "Hahahaha! I feel so powerful! I have even learned the language of the mun! It is kulgut this way! I shall bring death to the dovah upon this world and have enough power to destroy Vus!" "Last of the dovahkiin. I did not realize you were so easily corrupt and absorbed by one of these scaled beasts," a strange voice spoke out of nowhere. "Who speaks to me as if I were some simple pet?" Dinoksildov roared as he spun around to find the source. "I was not speaking to you, reaper. Gol Hah Dov!" No matter how hard he tried, the dragon felt himself falling to his knees. He was not yet powerful enough and began to pant in fatigue. The black mist that was surrounding the dragon, as well as the sparkling flames in his eyes began to dissipate. His features even began to smoothen, but they still kept the atypical fleshy-spiked appearance of the daedra and the planes of Oblivion. "M...Miraak?" a calmer voice spoke from the wailing beast's mouth. "Ha! So it is true. You have been called by the Dragon Reaper!" the old dragon priest mocked. "Where are you?" "I am in your mind, but I will not do this often. My soul has been awakened by the power of the Dovahdinok: The death dragon." "I...I do not understand. I was told this was a daedric dragon." "It is. It was meant to send all souls of the dovah to Oblivion where they would serve the princes for all eternity. it did not work. Those nine divines you foolishly worship and serve caught it before it could breach the barriers between worlds and was both destroyed and banished to this world. Judging by what I overheard, it was sealed into the mountain by a local deity. No doubt it caused quite the stir." "But...why are you helping me...overcome this creature?" "I am not. I am simply lax to see you do nothing. We had a great fight in Apocrypha, one that had not been seen in millennia, and here you are wasting away as the feast of this false dovah." "You're right...Talos told me to stay strong...I must find the Silver Dragon, but I do not know where it is. Have you ever heard of this 'Silver Dragon'? ...Miraak? Hmph. I guess I will have to find the locals of this place. I hope this beast did not do anything unsavory. Now...how do I walk and fly?" He had only now managed to take control of this new body thanks to the intervention of Miraak's creepy disembodied voice, but Solv had no idea how to walk like a dragon. The four limbs were bizarrely powerful but clumsy, and the wings on his back were foreign to him. "Now, one step forward-aaaaaaand I'm falling," Solv said as he fell down on his left side. Forcing himself back up, Solv thought: "Yeesh. If walking is that hard, what is it like when I try to fly?" It took some time, but the dovahkiin got the hang of walking, somewhat. He still looked like a child walking for the first time, in his mind. Now that he was finally able to walk, a horrid thought passed through his mind: "Wait...how do I find this Silver Dragon? Maybe he's like Paarthurnax and sits upon this world's throat? No. Two like that are highly unlikely. There seems to be a town far away. Perhaps it would be best I start there. They cannot harm me and I refuse to harm them. Perhaps there would be a way to speak to them without causing a ruckus." The three guards had gotten far away from the burning city leaving a trail of dust in their wake. They needed to get to their patrol camp as fast as they could and report to their superiors, but they could feel themselves tiring out. "I can't keep this up...I'm getting exhausted..." the third guard whined. "Quit your belly-aching. We're going to get there in at least an hour," the first said. "An hour of galloping?! Why can't we fly?" the third answered. "Guys, what's that in front of us?" the second asked. "What's wh--" Before the first guard could finish his question, the three slammed into a painfully solid, black barrier, then slowly sunk into it like jelly. The three could not breathe, and the jelly was immensely thick, so all they could see were darkened, twisted forms through the substance. They had just appeared without any warning or explanation. Strangely, though, they could hear what was being said on the other side. They seemed to be speaking in quick succession as if they could read each other's mind or were the same being. "The Dragons' Reaper is gone," said one. "No. It is stumbling along. It is not here," spoke another. "Then we must protect it, for it shall bring about a new era of existence. We shall evolve into powerful draconic beings through the bloodshed of the unworthy ones." "But what are we to do with these two?" a third asked. "You mean three?" a fourth answered. "I did not ask to be mocked." "But you were deserving of it." "Shall we kill them? They must not put our evolution in peril," a fifth spoke. "They shall die eventually in this trap," the second said. "But what about the survivors?" the fourth asked. "They will be dealt with in time." "That shall only save us time. A patrol will eventually come here, and after we have eliminated the third, they will send a search group of several armed and powerfully armored guards," a sixth added. "So we shall follow the Reaper and the gods who have created him. All hail the grat Reaper! Glory be unto those who serve the Blazened Gods! Death to those who would stand in our way!" the first shouted. The other five shouted the same words. "Oh. They are dead," the second noted. "Pity." "Shame." "We must go." "Then we shall absorb the essence of the unworthy dragons and become the first of the Reaper's servants and commanders in his righteous fury." "We must simply ensure that the Binding God and his agents do not reach him like before." "It is enough he was sealed once, but we have ways to counter their spells, now." Reaper's ScytheAuthor's Note Yes. I know the chapters seem to be shrinking. No. I never make a chapter below one-thousand words. Also, taking a small break from my book writing. At 36k words. Probably more than halfway done? (bragging) Reaper's Scythe The serpentine creature stared at Solv for awhile, seemingly oblivious to whatever it was being told. The body of this particular dragon seemed very strange to it. In fact, it seemed very familiar, but that didn't affect its aggression. "So? What are you? Do you even know what I'm saying?" "You do not know me? ...I am shocked. Dragons and Ejge know each other. Why do you not, Dragon's Reaper?" "Dragons' Reaper?" The ejge surrounded its body in shimmering yellow electricity, brightening its yellow scales in the sunlight. Solv understood its true intentions and tried to ready himself for combat, but he was a dovah now, not a Nord. As such, he quickly fell on his back after trying to stand up. "Curses! I forgot! No matter. It might get a free shot, but my scales should be able to absorb the strike." This leniency to an unknown enemy would prove a great judgement of error, as the ejge bolted at the fallen dragon, slicing through his scales and flesh, causing Solv to roar in pain. His adversary was not done yet, however, as it soared through the sky and was making another turn. If the dragon could not attack by conventional means, then he would have to fight like a dovah. With courage, the wounded beast stood back up, looked straight at the incoming bolt of electricity, and shouted: "Fus Roh Dah!" A tremendous sound wave smashed into the unsuspecting ejge, throwing it far away and into the ground. Solv was shocked by the tremendous power his shout held. He was never capable of doing something like that before. He felt his inner child come back out as he began to have fun with his new powers. While he admired his work, the serpentine creature rose out of the crater and shook its head. It didn't take long for it to resume the attack. Although a dragon, Solv still was still a powerful and experienced warrior. He prepared himself and watched what this creature would do, but to his surprise, it charged directly at him in a spiral pattern, creating a dangerous funnel of lightning that seemed to be dragging its surrounding into it like a vacuum. "Heheh. Let's see what happens if I shout Feim Zii Gron!" Much to the ejge's surprise, it passed right through Solv and smashed into the hill behind him and seemed stunned. "I don't know what you are, or what you want with me, but I cannot let you stay here and continue these assaults. Rii Vaaz Zol!" "What sort of unworldly powers are those?" the ejge asked in its hole. An ethereal ring of purple energy latched itself onto the ejge, tearing away its soul. Yet, instead of going to Solv, it dissipated. The dragon smacked its forehead. "Of course! I left all my soul gems on my original body. Although...its body isn't reanimating either. I wonder wh--" Solv was caught off guard by an ice ball smashing just a few centimeters away from him and freezing a huge portion of the ground it touched. The dragon just looked at the surface then tried to determine where the ball came from. He turned around a few times, then was attracted to a flash he saw far away near some mountains. It looked an immense amount of fellow dovah and the 'ejge' were fighting. It seemed to be a forest area that was being destroyed and damaged quite thoroughly. Several birds were trying to fly away, but only a few were capable of avoiding the breath of the dragons and the bodies of the ejge. Taking this time to observe and understand the dovah of this world as well as these creatures who seemed to be more than capable of fighting them and, apparently, defeating them, as seen by one ice streak cutting through a flying dragon and causing it to plummet into the mountainside and bounce off of it. At least, that's what it seemed to Solv. "Why couldn't the dovah create a shout that would allow a zooming view?" As Solv began to squint and lean forward, the world seemingly began to shake and darken until an enormous pillar of darkness erupted at the combat site. The sound it created was similar to a rumbling volcano. It even looked like some faces were rising and blending into the pillar. The vibrations this pillar was causing were of a tremendous violence and began to shake the world even more violently as it rose higher into the sky and widened with equal measure. The dragon lost his balance and fell off his rear and back onto the ground. After awhile, the pillar dissipated like an eggshell in vinegar, leaving way to an atrocious looking spectacle. The area the pillar was in seemed tainted with energies of pure darkness. In fact, the dragons and ejge were still there, but they weren't moving. If anything, they seemed frozen in place. Some started to slowly wisp away into nothingness as shadowy tendrils wobbled into existence every now and then. The ground and sky were also tainted. The trees and earth were blackened with some purple added into the mix. They seemed to have been mutated into twisted, horrid versions of themselves. Even the sky was tainted and looked like a hellish, dusty painting. After the last being dissipated, Solv was shocked for a second time. The darkness moved out of the world and seemed to be getting reabsorbed by...the mountain? "What was that? Maybe that's where the Silver Dragon is? I didn't see a dovah. Well, I have no other leads so I might as well go there. If that was him, he did return the world to normal. I don't need the poison of Oblivion flowing to even this world." "Draconic Conflicts?" Twilight wondered. "We don't have time. I need to find--" "Sister!" a familiar voice yelled. Luna was flying down with a smile on her face. Her sister flew up immediately and snatched her, crushing the moon princess against Celestia's chest. "Ow! What are you doing?" Luna protested as she pushed herself away. "I thought you were dead!" "Well, as you can see, I'm not." "What happened to you? Where did you go?" "Well, you saw what was destroying the town. Fighting a regular fire dragon is one thing, but fighting both it and the viciously dangerous poison dragon was something else. Not only that, but it wasn't a territorial conflict. They were fighting together. So..." "You awoke the Royal Ejge?!" Celestia roared in pure rage. "Actually...it was already awake...I just directed it to the city..." "Without thinking of the consequences it could create?!" "I didn't think it would be that dangerous. The ejge aren't too threatening and it didn't do much harm anyways." "Luna, that is the Royal Ejge. It is more than capable of causing tremendous damage. And did you not wonder why it was already awoken?" "Because they sleep during the night and stay awake during the day?" "No! The King Dragon is awake. The Draconic Conflicts are upon us." Luna's pupils shrunk. "But how can that be? They haven't happened since we were fillies. They even had a regular occurrence of around four centuries." "Exactly! Whatever caused this to happen again is out there somewhere." "Perhaps it would be wise to call the Dragon Slayers," Luna suggested. "We have dragon slayers?" Twilight asked. Celestia and Luna sighed and looked at her. "Yes, but we usually never call for them. They are...obnoxious..." Luna looked away in annoyance. "I don't think we have a choice in the matter. The ejge can be dealt with peacefully, if we can find somepony whom they will open up to. In either case, we might be able to--" Celestia was interrupted by a shrieking sound suddenly erupting from the distance. Powerful winds pushed against the city, throwing debris and ponies away into the air. Many of the stronger pegasi managed to help these unwilling flyers in this storm, but that wouldn't help what they were seeing. A tremendous pillar of pure darkness erupted near the mountains, scaring away what seemed to be both dragon and ejge. The world seemed engulfed by an eclipse as the pillar continued to erupt. The three alicorns were having trouble keeping their eyes open due to all the debris flying into their faces, but they could still see that the pillar seemed to hold what looked like evil spirits. Finally, it dissipated, leaving way to a tainted world with frozen ejge and dragons that seemed to have been consumed by the darkness. Much to Twilight's surprise, they seemed to fade out of existence as if they were disintegrating. She couldn't see the rest because of the tree line, but it seemed the darkness that had corrupted that section of the forest was being reabsorbed into the mountain and returned the forest back to the way it was before the blast. "Wh...what was that?" Twilight asked "I don't know, but it seems some ponies here did not follow the evacuation order," Celestia glared at those behind her. "You're sure you don't know?" Luna smirked. Celestia looked at her sister, then rolled her eyes in annoyance."Fine. It's the Silver Dragon..." "Who?" Twilight asked, "I feel like I'm doing nothing but asking questions here and not getting any answers." The King Dragon and the Royal EjgeAs Solv slowly left the dead town, panic was happening in Canterlot castle as well as the Councilors' Chambers. Ponies were galloping and flying left to right in a frantic mess with papers following suite. The castle itself was practically empty and void of any guards as they had all been set up around Canterlot to bolster its defenses. Bizarrely, by logic, any pony would evacuate the city and try to find refuge somewhere, but this event was a different one entirely. No matter where you went, you wouldn't be safe. Twilight and Fluttershy had just arrived at the frantic bustling of the castle and looked like they had just climbed a single mountain several times. Their manes were all ruffled, and they were panting, but they wouldn't get any rest. "Excuse me!" yelled a stallion holding a huge stack of papers on his back. "Hey!" Twilight protested as she jumped out of the way. "Come on, Twilight. Let's get to the princess as fast as we can...if that's alright with you," Fluttershy said. "Good idea. Let's go. I'll teleport us to the Councilors' Chamber." The lavender alicorn grabbed Fluttershy, and the two teleported away from the castle's entrance. The spell didn't even cause a reaction from the surrounding ponies. With a floop sound, the two mares appeared in the Councilors' Chamber. Only Celestia and a huge mound of paperwork was present. Instead of being sat at her podium, the princess was sitting at the table and filling everything out. She looked stressed and exhausted. "P-Princess?" Twilight stuttered. The mare looked up at her student groggily. Judging by her bloodshot eyes and her dampened fur, she hadn't slept or taken a bath for quite a few days. "Princess Celestia! You look terrible! When did you last sleep?" "I...I cannot stop. I have to...file everything for...for everypony's sake...' "Huh?" "Let me have a moment to rest." The two mares looked at each other with worry, then both took a seat opposite from Celestia. A few minutes passed, and Celestia still had her head up and eyes closed. "Princess Celestia? Is everything alright?" The princess didn't respond. Instead, her head fell down and she smacked her face against the table, violently waking up then losing balance and crashing onto the floor. "Ow," she moaned. "I'm sorry. I didn't react in time." Twlight apologized. "It's okay...Twilight," Celestia replied as she rubbed her head. "So, why did you call Fluttershy and I? What's going on with the city?" "Well...The dragons have become extremely active. It's an activity that shouldn't be happening." "I've noticed. Spike has been trembling in my room. He seems both extremely sick and terrified of something," Twilight remembered. "I haven't noticed anything anything with the animals, and I don't want to have to face dragons," Fluttershy shook. "I know, Fluttershy, but this is why I also asked for you. You, of all ponies, should know the dragons." "Well..." "She's terrified of them, but I'm sure she knows more than she's willing to say," Twilight chuckled. "Be that as it may, we have another problem. From time to time, the dragons enter in conflict with the ejge," Celestia added. "The what?" Fluttershy wondered. "You...You don't know?" Twilight asked her friend. Fluttershy shook her head in response. "They have the same ancestors as the dragons. You know, 'Living in groups and shunning out draconic troops, watch the ledge for the ejge'." Fluttershy shrugged. "I didn't think they were real. Nopony has ever really seen them before," Fluttershy said. Celestia cleared her throat and said: "Well, then let me just tell you what they are. Like Twilight has said, the ejge possess the same ancestor as the dragons, but they evolved with such drastic differences that nopony knows what caused them. As everypony knows, dragons are gigantic beasts whose hides are nigh impenetrable. They also have extreme muscular strength and, depending on the species, can breathe a variety of elements. Some even have some control over magic. However, the ejge are the complete opposite. Instead of having massive bodies of power, they are serpentine in appearance with a blade-like protrusion at the ends of their tales. Their scales are extremely smooth and aerodynamic, creating little to no wind resistance. They also have no eyes and two mouths on their heads. As for their wings, they are gigantic, being nearly twice the size of their owners. The ejge ARE quite small compared to dragons, though." "Then what's so special about them? They can't fight with dragons like that, not that I would want them to. I don't like it when animals hurt themselves." Fluttershy wondered "Where dragons are built for defense and strength, ejge are built for speed and agility. Their scales aren't just smooth, they're viciously sharp. Unlike dragons, the ejge will surround their entire bodies with their element and become a flying dagger. They're capable of slicing through a dragon's scales and hitting what's underneath, and where dragons are usually alone until migration or mating seasons, the ejge live in secluded societies." "That's what some researchers say, at least," Twilight interrupted. "The truth is, we know next to nothing about the ejge. Unlike the dragons who are prideful, the ejge prefer to keep to themselves, but, lately, dragons have begun invading their territory and vice versa." "What do you think is the cause?" Twilight asked. "We don't know. I was hoping that Fluttershy would be able to converse with one of the dragons were we to capture one." "Well...if he's really tightly secured...I could...If he doesn't breathe fire or...No! I couldn't! I--" "It's okay, Fluttershy. We aren't asking you to do that right away," Celestia comforted. "So, do you have any ideas on why they've become so active?" Twilight asked. "No. I don't, but my councilors and draconic researchers do. Supposedly this happens every four centuries. Strangely enough, this never happened when I was on the throne." "I wonder why," Twilight thought aloud. Without warning, several bells began to chime throughout the castle, frightening the three in the chamber. "Alert! Alert! Two dragons are attacking Canterlot. Alert! Secure and evacuate civilians. This is not a drill!" Although there were practically no guards in the castle, the thundering sound of galloping hooves rumbled throughout the castle corridors. Fluttershy decided to hide under the table, making Twilight roll her eyes. Mustering up her strength, Celestia teleported outside of the castle walls, quickly being followed by Twilight. It seemed that two very different dragons were destroying the city of Canterlot. The defenses weren't yet ready, so there was no way to properly fight them. One of them were fighting a blue alicorn from afar. While her beams and spells were good, they were only irritating the dragon. It didn't take long for the spells to stop and the flying dragon to fly away then back towards the city and belch out fire. The one smashing through the city seemed to be a poison dragon, as its body was green and seemed half-melted and it was exhaling noxious fumes. "Twilight, quickly! We have to get there and help my sister fend them off. Get as many injured as you can to safety and protect them," Celestia ordered. "Right." With a nod, Twilight and Celestia started flying towards the city. That is, until a high pitched shout that resembled freezing wind flowing through an ice cavern reached everypony's ears. For some reason, Twilight and Celestia began to tremble, and the dragons stopped their actions and looked up, the flying one looking around. There was no sound for a time, then the shout came again, and a gigantic monster flew from over the mountains. While the dragons were enormous enough that they were capable of occupying a block by themselves, this thing seemed to be much larger than even they. Without a second to spare, the flying dragon stopped flapping its wings. Before it even knew what happened, it began to compress into a singularity until it became a tiny ball that fell to the ground with a violent thunk. The other began to panic and belched out breath after breath of toxic fumes. A strange projectile of blue electricity tore away at that fumes, causing them to dissipate almost immediately, but it didn't stop there. It punched into the toxic dragon that found itself flying through the buildings of Canterlot and out of its walls just to slide into the ground and lay there. It was dead, it seemed. It didn't take long for the creature to screech again and disappear quickly into the distance, leaving silence for the wind and crackling fire to do their jobs. "Wh-what was that?! And what about Princess Luna? ...Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked Celestia while still trembling. "That...Oh no. That was the Royal Ejge. If it's out, the the King Dragon is awake as well...The Draconic Conflicts are upon us." Solv had nearly gotten the walking cycle as a dragon down. Sure, he had fallen down a couple of times, but it was becoming less frequent, and he was nearing the town. He would have perfected himself better had he not been frightened by a white, serpentine creature that landed right in front of him. It was slightly smaller than he was. "What in Talos' name? What manner of creature are you? What do you want?"
Falling off the Throat of the WorldSolv Skog stood on the snows of the Throat, taking in the blistering cold of the mountains. The skies were dark at this altitude despite it being day, but the Nord could not think of anything but his task at hand. It was his duty, as dovahkiin, to slay Alduin the World Eater. Since the day he was sent to the Gray Beard elders, he knew of this task, but he wasn't ready. He knew this much. To prepare himself, he traveled the world in search of training and new equipment. He came across a ship of a frightened sailor near Windhelm and traveled to the island of Solstheim where he, as the last dragonborn, defeated the first with the help of the local Nords and a daedric prince. The trophies of Miraak were great, but they were far too tainted for Solv's soul, so he placed them in safe keeping. He gained experience and new shouts a well as a few enchanted ebony armor, but this did not sate his needs. Traveling back to Skyrim, Solv gained the knowledge of the mages at the College of Winterhold where gained the power of the Archmage and the ability to summon even daedras. He was not yet ready. The dragonborn travelled far and wide in Skyrim once more, discovering old dwemer ruins, vampiric secrets, and fought with many more dragons allowing him to awaken more shouts. Finally, after all his training and learning, the dragonborn had adorned himself with dragonbone armor and weapons and held the Elder Scroll of Dragon in his hands. His armor and weapons had been covered by the blood of many daedra in his travels as well, enhancing the weapons with the power to sense demonic evils and banish them from the world as well as an armor capable of resisting all but the most foul of spells. With this new equipment, Solv was ready to learn the words of hate and defeat Alduin once and for all. Paarthurnax, one who used to be the last of his kind, stood atop the wall of draconic inscriptions and looked at the might dovahkiin with pride, but also with fear. He had quite the story to tell unto his grand children, and his dealings weren't all too pure despite his intentions. Still, the light shone upon the grounds and Solv took a deep breath. "Dovahkiin, I have taught you what I could and have sent you to far reaches of Skyrim, yet you have discovered our kind even were they were not thought to be. For this, I thank you. You have grown strong and have not let this power cloud your judgment and truthful beliefs, and for this, the world thanks you. Now, you must gaze upon the Elder Scroll of Dragon and discover what the words that even we dare not speak are. Step within the light of the Time Wound and let the scroll show you what happened so many centuries ago." "I...I am not certain I am ready for such a thing," Solv said with hesitation. "Are you not dovahkiin? Are you not one who killed Miraak and used Hermaeus Mora to teach you the words to conquer a dragon? You have even stopped the vampires from engulfing the world in eternal darkness." "How do you know of this?" "Dovah tinvaak goes far, young one. Take your ahkrin and let it envelop you." The Nord did just that and slammed his right hand on his chest. "You are right! I may be dovahkiin, but I am also a Nord! We fear nothing!" "GEH FUS! Now read the scroll. It will show you the words." The Nord took his courage, as instructed, and stepped into the light. As he unfurled the scroll, the Time Wound broke open and could be seen through the material of the scroll. Thanks to the blessing of the moths, the dragonborn could read the scroll without fear of being permanently blinded or having his sight fail him gradually. As he viewed something within his sight, he heard a slight whisper of something. He did not know what it was. It felt as if words had been spoken that reached across countless worlds and had finally reached a dragonborn, but...these words weren't good words. Solv felt his consciousness slowly slipping away from reality as Paarthurnax seemed to be getting angry about something and seemed to be fighting against...another dragon? Alduin? No. He wasn't the most discrete and would have attacked the dragonborn first. This brightening sight soon disappeared completely as Solv Skog felt himself falling into a warm abyss of pure white light. "Have I been killed? Am I going to Sovngarde before completing my final quest? It cannot end this way. I refuse it...but I have no energy. I cannot move," Solv thought to himself. "You are not dead, dovahkiin," spoke a powerful voice in the aether. "What? Who has spoken? Is it you, Mehrunes Dagon? Still furious that I tricked you into reforging the dagger?" "N-no...You tricked him? Most impressive. Perhaps there is hope for you yet, but for now, you must remain calm. A voice has called your body through the Time Wound, and you are being sent to another world." "What? Tell me your name first." "I am Tiber Septim, the one you call 'Talos'." "It is the highest honor for a Nord to by you. What are you here to tell me about that is so dangerous it requires a deity to speak to about it?" "All I can tell you is that Alduin was not the only one to be cast across time, but the entity who is calling you now is of a terrifying origin." "Tell me of it, and I shall slay it in the name of the Nine Divines!" "It will not be so simple. This is a dovah of daedric origins." "What? How is this possible?" "I do not know. It is a secret that the daedric princes have guarded well, unfortunately. It was cursed and sent to whatever Oblivion hole that even we cannot see as we are limited to Nirn. It has often shouted for a dragonborn, but it has never succeeded. It seems that, with the tear, a shout of the past has reached you and you are being sent to his new world." "Then what is the problem? I have fought many daedric abominations and defied many of the princes." "Because this one requires the soul of a dovah or a dovahkiin to be reborn. You will not inhabit your own body, but you will inhabit his. I fear that you will both share the same body, but you must remain strong and suppress him." "But...Such a fate. How am I to return to Skyrim and fulfill my duty?" "You are reaching a point where I and the other eight cannot see or hear you, so all I can tell you is to seek the Silver Dragon. His is an entity of great age who travels often to worlds that even we do not know of and has bizarre powers. Be wary when you meet him, for he has proclaimed himself as a demon hunter and actively hunts demons when they are near him. I must go now. Be strong, dovahkiin. Not all curses destroy." "Talos, wait! I have many more questions concerning this daedra and the Silver Dragon! Please! Come back!" Tiber Septim did not answer, so Solv accepted his fate. As he continued to fall down, he eventually found his column of white crumble into pure darkness and, just as quickly as this happened, felt himself land painfully on something that quickly closed around him. As he grabbed the bars of his new cage, he saw two orange eyes with sparkling orange flames crackling around them. They were full of rage and hunger, but this did not deter the dragonborn. Instead, he stood up with pride and envy to combat this new foe. "Who are you? Tell me your name at once, abomination!" "Hahaha!" the dragon boomed. The mouth of this beast glowed with a bright orange, illuminating his face. The dragon's head was enormous and had the same strange blackish growths that daedric armor possessed. It was unnatural and seemed inorganic." "Nii hadrim hahnu zaam zu'u. Jul mey. Zu'u lost tiid fah daar fah pogaan eruvossetiid. Zu'u kiinpogaan naal hin siil!" As soon as these words were spoken, words that Solv still did not know, he saw the mouth of the dragon going towards him and, finally, devouring him. Daisypace was a growing city near the Dissirvian mountains at the border of the Griffin Kingdom. They were at the base of the giant stone pillars and were growing ever so slightly thanks to their textile making and mining. One such mining operation had started in a new vein, but this vein was special. There seemed to be a brand new red mineral that had been discovered, and a select few ponies had been chosen to mine them out very delicately. Geode Yellow was one such pony. His yellow coat and green mane and tail had become practically gray and brown from dust and dirt while he crushed through the stone with his pickaxe. He was exhausted. "Ugh. Why do WE have to mine this crap? It's probably just some volcanic product from long ago that isn't even worth a horseshoe," he complained as he leaned on the pickaxe and wiped his forehead. "Because we were chosen for it. Don't forget that we unlucky sods are going to get a delicious bonus after mining at least two mine carts full of these things even if they're worthless," Dim Light answered further away. "He's right. For every two carts we get out, we'll get around a hundred bits...each!" Blueberry added. "A HUNDRED?!" Dull Gem shouted. The crazed stallion began to sash violently into the stone, prompting Geode to shake his head in disapproval. "That still doesn't save us from the crazy instability of this part of the caverns. Plus, with all the pounding that ravenous rock parasprite is doing, everything will cave in on us. And plus, why would the investors even pay that much if these things are worthless?" "Could be worse. There could be gem spiders here. You know how they get when we try to mine," Blueberry said. "I try not to," Geode answered with a frown. "Poor Carrot," Dim Light looked down in sadness as he said that. Geode Yellow sighed and readjusted his helmet. "Well, might as well get back to work. Could you guys check the lining here? I think I'm seeing micro fractures in the mineral wall here." As soon as the stallion finished his sentence, the cave began to shake violently, prompting the three other miners to cover their heads by instinct. Little stones and more of the transparent red rocks began to fall from the ceiling. "What is...Hey HEY! Dull Gem! Calm down! You won't get the bits of we all die here!" Dim Light shouted. "But there's tons more behind here! I can feel it!" "That doesn't matter! We stopped mining there because the walls were too thin and fragile!" The crazed pony continued anyways. The others tried to stop him, but it was too late. The ceiling collapsed on everypony, snuffing out the candles they had placed everywhere for light. They would have been crushed too, if Dim Light didn't erect a shield around them. Once the dust had cleared and the shaking stopped, he dropped the shield and nearly collapsed as well from the effort. Blueberry managed to catch him in time. After making sure he was okay, Geode turned to face Dull Gem who was still panting with his pupils shrunk. He was clutching the pickaxe between his two forelegs while he sat on his rear. He wasn't sat for long as Geode punched him in the back of the head, then lift him up and started choking him. "What's the matter with you?! You nearly killed us. By the Destroyer, I WILL kill you!" "B-but...l...look...!" Dull Gem struggled to say as he pointed forward. "What? What is it?!" "Let...Let me do it," Dim Light said. "Are you sure you're up for this?" "Yes. I'm certain." "Okay. Don't force yourself." With some concentration, the stallion managed to illuminate the cave with an orb of white light. It didn't take long for it to illuminate what looked like a crystallized stream of the red mineral. It had even trickled down the tunnel exit a bit. Geode let go of the crazy stallion and looked at the stream with amazement. "It's a river of the minerals," Yellow said. "And it seems we're locked in. We might have a rescue team coming soon, so I suggest we wait here in the mean time," Blueberry suggested. "Look at this. How is such a formation possible. It's as if the stuff is blood that drained from its host's body," Geode gasped as he followed the trail. "Geode...Wait here...It's not worth it..." Dim begged. "I know, I just want to see how far this goes. It might lead to the sou-Oof!" The stallion slammed against something as he was gently tapping the floor to make sure he wasn't going to fall down a hole. "Ow. What is this? Dim, could you shine your ironically bright orb over here?" "Aha. Another joke on my name. This coming from one whose name is just a mineral vein and a color," Dim replied. Geode was going to reply as well, but Blueberry stopped them. The orb gently levitated in front of Geode to reveal not a wall but a dragon skull. "A dragon skull?!" Dull Gem yelled. "That explains the form of this source. It's crystallized dragon blood," Geode realized. "But how did it get embedded in the rock?" Blueberry wondered. Suddenly, an orange light began to shine behind Yellow with a mind numbing hum. Turning around, he saw that the creature's eyes had somehow reformed. "By the Creator, it's alive?!" Geode shouted. Unfortunately for the poor stallion, he was crushed under the skeletal claw of the dragon as it pushed its claws down through the stone. The cave began to cave in once more, but it did so in a violent manner. Outside, a rescue team had already begun to dig through the wreckage, but the violent tremors caused them to work even harder. They didn't know what was about to rise out of the mountain. With one violent explosion, the dragon skeleton blasted through the stone, throwing many blocks onto nearby buildings and unfortunate passer-bys. "What in the Abyss is that?!" a mare shouted. The skeleton moved and twisted slowly as flesh began to reform onto it like a misty shadow. Once it finally began to form around the skull yelled: "Zu'u los Dinoksildov. Pah dovve faas zu'u, fah zu'u dinok do dovah ahrk dovahkiin!" It then looked at the town below and, once more, shouted: "Yol Toor Shul!" An inferno of flame erupted from the muzzle, engulfing the small city and its residents in flesh-searing flame. Author's Note For those who need it (and because I'm not exactly sure I'm using it right) here's where I got the words of dovah tinaak Here's what I intended with the first sentence (you have to rough it) "Nii hadrim hahnu zaam zu'u. Jul mey. Zu'u lost tiid fah daar fah pogaan eruvosse. Zu'u kiinpogaan naal hin siil!" "It thinks to command me. Foolish human. I have waited for this for many centuries (years time). I am reborn by your soul!"
I am in controlPonies were fleeing left and right as their small city rose up in purple flames and black smoke. The dragon's flesh was reforming as it began to pull itself out of the rock. It was taking on a flayed-flesh appearance with strange protrusions coming from the shoulders and the top of the head. It seemed to be laughing as it continued to expel a demonic flame upon the little ponies below it. These sort of things were practically impossible, so nopony knew what to do. Instead, they just ran in circles or towards the borders of Daisypace. Dinoksildov laughed powerfully as he watched his prey run for their lives. "Hahaha! Ru malkeyye! RU!" he bellowed. A small foal began to cry in the streets as it couldn't find its parents. Their fate was something that would be best left unspoken of. The little foal was snatched up by a passing couple and taken away just in time for a rock to land where the tiny pony had previously been. Another roar bellowed through the sky as the reawakening dragon stretched his reforming wings. As he gazed once more upon his work of art, Dinoksildov witnessed a single, elderly pony glowing with ancient red runes. He stood firm and glared at the dragon with unbridled fury. Even when the others smacked into him and houses began to crumble around, he stood firm. "Hm? Daar Los?" "It has been said that the ancient, demonic dragon bones in the mountain would one day reawaken, and so I shall uphold the mission my ancestors upheld as demon hunters and reawaken the Banisher!" The elderly stallion began to tap his body in various areas while chanting various words unknown to the daedric dovah. It only took a final word for the runes to raise themselves from his body, taking away his life force as a sacrifice, and heading underground near the outskirts of the town. Besides the screaming and crackling of flame, not much else happened, but the dragon was curious. He leaned a bit further from his former tomb as his body was just finishing its reforming and stretched his neck upwards to get a better view. He hadn't gotten his lower legs out of the stone yet. Just like the dragon, something began to rise up from the ground as a harmless mound of dirt. One long leg pierced through and slammed on the ground, then another, and another, until eight legs were above ground. It didn't take long for the main body to follow. The creature was a dragon sized spider covered with the glowing red runes and who seemed to be undead. It coughed up various poisons from its mouth, charring the ground in the process. "The demonic dragon from another world. I thought you were going to stay under the mountain for all eternity," it spoke with a raspy voice as though gasping for air. "What manner of creature are you? From what deity do you hail? Akatosh? Arkay? Kynareth?" "I know not of these deities. I am a creation of the God of Bindings: Bomafoon of the Zebras." "Haha! What a ridiculous name. And what do you plan to do to me? Kill me? Seal my soul once more?" "In a tighter casket this time." From afar, a patrol of the Royal Guards had seen the entire event and were rather traumatized by the whole thing. "What in Equestria is that thing?" a guard whisper shouted. "It's a dragon and a giant zombie spider..." another answered. "I know that, but what is that dragon? I've never any of its ilk before." "Perhaps it is why the dragons and the ejge have been getting riled up as of late. It has been over four centuries since the great ones had been born," a third soldier said. The other two shushed him. "Quiet! We don't want any prying ears to hear that the war is coming. We need to report to Princess Celestia at once! Now let's go!" the first guard insisted. "Wait...what's it doing?" the second guard wondered aloud. The three pegasi turned to face the danger from afar to see that the dragon had green smoke emanating from its mouth and the spider had lost two legs. "Viidost Su Faaz!" the dragon bellowed. A torrential cloud of green mist funneled at the spider, chipping away at its body and causing the unfortunate pieces who didn't fly off to gradually melt into a sludge. The monster began laughing as it saw its power returning to it little by little. Full of fright, the pegasi flew off towards the castle to announce of the impending menace. "Hahahaha! I feel so powerful! I have even learned the language of the mun! It is kulgut this way! I shall bring death to the dovah upon this world and have enough power to destroy Vus!" "Last of the dovahkiin. I did not realize you were so easily corrupt and absorbed by one of these scaled beasts," a strange voice spoke out of nowhere. "Who speaks to me as if I were some simple pet?" Dinoksildov roared as he spun around to find the source. "I was not speaking to you, reaper. Gol Hah Dov!" No matter how hard he tried, the dragon felt himself falling to his knees. He was not yet powerful enough and began to pant in fatigue. The black mist that was surrounding the dragon, as well as the sparkling flames in his eyes began to dissipate. His features even began to smoothen, but they still kept the atypical fleshy-spiked appearance of the daedra and the planes of Oblivion. "M...Miraak?" a calmer voice spoke from the wailing beast's mouth. "Ha! So it is true. You have been called by the Dragon Reaper!" the old dragon priest mocked. "Where are you?" "I am in your mind, but I will not do this often. My soul has been awakened by the power of the Dovahdinok: The death dragon." "I...I do not understand. I was told this was a daedric dragon." "It is. It was meant to send all souls of the dovah to Oblivion where they would serve the princes for all eternity. it did not work. Those nine divines you foolishly worship and serve caught it before it could breach the barriers between worlds and was both destroyed and banished to this world. Judging by what I overheard, it was sealed into the mountain by a local deity. No doubt it caused quite the stir." "But...why are you helping me...overcome this creature?" "I am not. I am simply lax to see you do nothing. We had a great fight in Apocrypha, one that had not been seen in millennia, and here you are wasting away as the feast of this false dovah." "You're right...Talos told me to stay strong...I must find the Silver Dragon, but I do not know where it is. Have you ever heard of this 'Silver Dragon'? ...Miraak? Hmph. I guess I will have to find the locals of this place. I hope this beast did not do anything unsavory. Now...how do I walk and fly?" He had only now managed to take control of this new body thanks to the intervention of Miraak's creepy disembodied voice, but Solv had no idea how to walk like a dragon. The four limbs were bizarrely powerful but clumsy, and the wings on his back were foreign to him. "Now, one step forward-aaaaaaand I'm falling," Solv said as he fell down on his left side. Forcing himself back up, Solv thought: "Yeesh. If walking is that hard, what is it like when I try to fly?" It took some time, but the dovahkiin got the hang of walking, somewhat. He still looked like a child walking for the first time, in his mind. Now that he was finally able to walk, a horrid thought passed through his mind: "Wait...how do I find this Silver Dragon? Maybe he's like Paarthurnax and sits upon this world's throat? No. Two like that are highly unlikely. There seems to be a town far away. Perhaps it would be best I start there. They cannot harm me and I refuse to harm them. Perhaps there would be a way to speak to them without causing a ruckus." The three guards had gotten far away from the burning city leaving a trail of dust in their wake. They needed to get to their patrol camp as fast as they could and report to their superiors, but they could feel themselves tiring out. "I can't keep this up...I'm getting exhausted..." the third guard whined. "Quit your belly-aching. We're going to get there in at least an hour," the first said. "An hour of galloping?! Why can't we fly?" the third answered. "Guys, what's that in front of us?" the second asked. "What's wh--" Before the first guard could finish his question, the three slammed into a painfully solid, black barrier, then slowly sunk into it like jelly. The three could not breathe, and the jelly was immensely thick, so all they could see were darkened, twisted forms through the substance. They had just appeared without any warning or explanation. Strangely, though, they could hear what was being said on the other side. They seemed to be speaking in quick succession as if they could read each other's mind or were the same being. "The Dragons' Reaper is gone," said one. "No. It is stumbling along. It is not here," spoke another. "Then we must protect it, for it shall bring about a new era of existence. We shall evolve into powerful draconic beings through the bloodshed of the unworthy ones." "But what are we to do with these two?" a third asked. "You mean three?" a fourth answered. "I did not ask to be mocked." "But you were deserving of it." "Shall we kill them? They must not put our evolution in peril," a fifth spoke. "They shall die eventually in this trap," the second said. "But what about the survivors?" the fourth asked. "They will be dealt with in time." "That shall only save us time. A patrol will eventually come here, and after we have eliminated the third, they will send a search group of several armed and powerfully armored guards," a sixth added. "So we shall follow the Reaper and the gods who have created him. All hail the grat Reaper! Glory be unto those who serve the Blazened Gods! Death to those who would stand in our way!" the first shouted. The other five shouted the same words. "Oh. They are dead," the second noted. "Pity." "Shame." "We must go." "Then we shall absorb the essence of the unworthy dragons and become the first of the Reaper's servants and commanders in his righteous fury." "We must simply ensure that the Binding God and his agents do not reach him like before." "It is enough he was sealed once, but we have ways to counter their spells, now."
Reaper's ScytheAuthor's Note Yes. I know the chapters seem to be shrinking. No. I never make a chapter below one-thousand words. Also, taking a small break from my book writing. At 36k words. Probably more than halfway done? (bragging) Reaper's Scythe The serpentine creature stared at Solv for awhile, seemingly oblivious to whatever it was being told. The body of this particular dragon seemed very strange to it. In fact, it seemed very familiar, but that didn't affect its aggression. "So? What are you? Do you even know what I'm saying?" "You do not know me? ...I am shocked. Dragons and Ejge know each other. Why do you not, Dragon's Reaper?" "Dragons' Reaper?" The ejge surrounded its body in shimmering yellow electricity, brightening its yellow scales in the sunlight. Solv understood its true intentions and tried to ready himself for combat, but he was a dovah now, not a Nord. As such, he quickly fell on his back after trying to stand up. "Curses! I forgot! No matter. It might get a free shot, but my scales should be able to absorb the strike." This leniency to an unknown enemy would prove a great judgement of error, as the ejge bolted at the fallen dragon, slicing through his scales and flesh, causing Solv to roar in pain. His adversary was not done yet, however, as it soared through the sky and was making another turn. If the dragon could not attack by conventional means, then he would have to fight like a dovah. With courage, the wounded beast stood back up, looked straight at the incoming bolt of electricity, and shouted: "Fus Roh Dah!" A tremendous sound wave smashed into the unsuspecting ejge, throwing it far away and into the ground. Solv was shocked by the tremendous power his shout held. He was never capable of doing something like that before. He felt his inner child come back out as he began to have fun with his new powers. While he admired his work, the serpentine creature rose out of the crater and shook its head. It didn't take long for it to resume the attack. Although a dragon, Solv still was still a powerful and experienced warrior. He prepared himself and watched what this creature would do, but to his surprise, it charged directly at him in a spiral pattern, creating a dangerous funnel of lightning that seemed to be dragging its surrounding into it like a vacuum. "Heheh. Let's see what happens if I shout Feim Zii Gron!" Much to the ejge's surprise, it passed right through Solv and smashed into the hill behind him and seemed stunned. "I don't know what you are, or what you want with me, but I cannot let you stay here and continue these assaults. Rii Vaaz Zol!" "What sort of unworldly powers are those?" the ejge asked in its hole. An ethereal ring of purple energy latched itself onto the ejge, tearing away its soul. Yet, instead of going to Solv, it dissipated. The dragon smacked its forehead. "Of course! I left all my soul gems on my original body. Although...its body isn't reanimating either. I wonder wh--" Solv was caught off guard by an ice ball smashing just a few centimeters away from him and freezing a huge portion of the ground it touched. The dragon just looked at the surface then tried to determine where the ball came from. He turned around a few times, then was attracted to a flash he saw far away near some mountains. It looked an immense amount of fellow dovah and the 'ejge' were fighting. It seemed to be a forest area that was being destroyed and damaged quite thoroughly. Several birds were trying to fly away, but only a few were capable of avoiding the breath of the dragons and the bodies of the ejge. Taking this time to observe and understand the dovah of this world as well as these creatures who seemed to be more than capable of fighting them and, apparently, defeating them, as seen by one ice streak cutting through a flying dragon and causing it to plummet into the mountainside and bounce off of it. At least, that's what it seemed to Solv. "Why couldn't the dovah create a shout that would allow a zooming view?" As Solv began to squint and lean forward, the world seemingly began to shake and darken until an enormous pillar of darkness erupted at the combat site. The sound it created was similar to a rumbling volcano. It even looked like some faces were rising and blending into the pillar. The vibrations this pillar was causing were of a tremendous violence and began to shake the world even more violently as it rose higher into the sky and widened with equal measure. The dragon lost his balance and fell off his rear and back onto the ground. After awhile, the pillar dissipated like an eggshell in vinegar, leaving way to an atrocious looking spectacle. The area the pillar was in seemed tainted with energies of pure darkness. In fact, the dragons and ejge were still there, but they weren't moving. If anything, they seemed frozen in place. Some started to slowly wisp away into nothingness as shadowy tendrils wobbled into existence every now and then. The ground and sky were also tainted. The trees and earth were blackened with some purple added into the mix. They seemed to have been mutated into twisted, horrid versions of themselves. Even the sky was tainted and looked like a hellish, dusty painting. After the last being dissipated, Solv was shocked for a second time. The darkness moved out of the world and seemed to be getting reabsorbed by...the mountain? "What was that? Maybe that's where the Silver Dragon is? I didn't see a dovah. Well, I have no other leads so I might as well go there. If that was him, he did return the world to normal. I don't need the poison of Oblivion flowing to even this world." "Draconic Conflicts?" Twilight wondered. "We don't have time. I need to find--" "Sister!" a familiar voice yelled. Luna was flying down with a smile on her face. Her sister flew up immediately and snatched her, crushing the moon princess against Celestia's chest. "Ow! What are you doing?" Luna protested as she pushed herself away. "I thought you were dead!" "Well, as you can see, I'm not." "What happened to you? Where did you go?" "Well, you saw what was destroying the town. Fighting a regular fire dragon is one thing, but fighting both it and the viciously dangerous poison dragon was something else. Not only that, but it wasn't a territorial conflict. They were fighting together. So..." "You awoke the Royal Ejge?!" Celestia roared in pure rage. "Actually...it was already awake...I just directed it to the city..." "Without thinking of the consequences it could create?!" "I didn't think it would be that dangerous. The ejge aren't too threatening and it didn't do much harm anyways." "Luna, that is the Royal Ejge. It is more than capable of causing tremendous damage. And did you not wonder why it was already awoken?" "Because they sleep during the night and stay awake during the day?" "No! The King Dragon is awake. The Draconic Conflicts are upon us." Luna's pupils shrunk. "But how can that be? They haven't happened since we were fillies. They even had a regular occurrence of around four centuries." "Exactly! Whatever caused this to happen again is out there somewhere." "Perhaps it would be wise to call the Dragon Slayers," Luna suggested. "We have dragon slayers?" Twilight asked. Celestia and Luna sighed and looked at her. "Yes, but we usually never call for them. They are...obnoxious..." Luna looked away in annoyance. "I don't think we have a choice in the matter. The ejge can be dealt with peacefully, if we can find somepony whom they will open up to. In either case, we might be able to--" Celestia was interrupted by a shrieking sound suddenly erupting from the distance. Powerful winds pushed against the city, throwing debris and ponies away into the air. Many of the stronger pegasi managed to help these unwilling flyers in this storm, but that wouldn't help what they were seeing. A tremendous pillar of pure darkness erupted near the mountains, scaring away what seemed to be both dragon and ejge. The world seemed engulfed by an eclipse as the pillar continued to erupt. The three alicorns were having trouble keeping their eyes open due to all the debris flying into their faces, but they could still see that the pillar seemed to hold what looked like evil spirits. Finally, it dissipated, leaving way to a tainted world with frozen ejge and dragons that seemed to have been consumed by the darkness. Much to Twilight's surprise, they seemed to fade out of existence as if they were disintegrating. She couldn't see the rest because of the tree line, but it seemed the darkness that had corrupted that section of the forest was being reabsorbed into the mountain and returned the forest back to the way it was before the blast. "Wh...what was that?" Twilight asked "I don't know, but it seems some ponies here did not follow the evacuation order," Celestia glared at those behind her. "You're sure you don't know?" Luna smirked. Celestia looked at her sister, then rolled her eyes in annoyance."Fine. It's the Silver Dragon..." "Who?" Twilight asked, "I feel like I'm doing nothing but asking questions here and not getting any answers."
The King Dragon and the Royal EjgeAs Solv slowly left the dead town, panic was happening in Canterlot castle as well as the Councilors' Chambers. Ponies were galloping and flying left to right in a frantic mess with papers following suite. The castle itself was practically empty and void of any guards as they had all been set up around Canterlot to bolster its defenses. Bizarrely, by logic, any pony would evacuate the city and try to find refuge somewhere, but this event was a different one entirely. No matter where you went, you wouldn't be safe. Twilight and Fluttershy had just arrived at the frantic bustling of the castle and looked like they had just climbed a single mountain several times. Their manes were all ruffled, and they were panting, but they wouldn't get any rest. "Excuse me!" yelled a stallion holding a huge stack of papers on his back. "Hey!" Twilight protested as she jumped out of the way. "Come on, Twilight. Let's get to the princess as fast as we can...if that's alright with you," Fluttershy said. "Good idea. Let's go. I'll teleport us to the Councilors' Chamber." The lavender alicorn grabbed Fluttershy, and the two teleported away from the castle's entrance. The spell didn't even cause a reaction from the surrounding ponies. With a floop sound, the two mares appeared in the Councilors' Chamber. Only Celestia and a huge mound of paperwork was present. Instead of being sat at her podium, the princess was sitting at the table and filling everything out. She looked stressed and exhausted. "P-Princess?" Twilight stuttered. The mare looked up at her student groggily. Judging by her bloodshot eyes and her dampened fur, she hadn't slept or taken a bath for quite a few days. "Princess Celestia! You look terrible! When did you last sleep?" "I...I cannot stop. I have to...file everything for...for everypony's sake...' "Huh?" "Let me have a moment to rest." The two mares looked at each other with worry, then both took a seat opposite from Celestia. A few minutes passed, and Celestia still had her head up and eyes closed. "Princess Celestia? Is everything alright?" The princess didn't respond. Instead, her head fell down and she smacked her face against the table, violently waking up then losing balance and crashing onto the floor. "Ow," she moaned. "I'm sorry. I didn't react in time." Twlight apologized. "It's okay...Twilight," Celestia replied as she rubbed her head. "So, why did you call Fluttershy and I? What's going on with the city?" "Well...The dragons have become extremely active. It's an activity that shouldn't be happening." "I've noticed. Spike has been trembling in my room. He seems both extremely sick and terrified of something," Twilight remembered. "I haven't noticed anything anything with the animals, and I don't want to have to face dragons," Fluttershy shook. "I know, Fluttershy, but this is why I also asked for you. You, of all ponies, should know the dragons." "Well..." "She's terrified of them, but I'm sure she knows more than she's willing to say," Twilight chuckled. "Be that as it may, we have another problem. From time to time, the dragons enter in conflict with the ejge," Celestia added. "The what?" Fluttershy wondered. "You...You don't know?" Twilight asked her friend. Fluttershy shook her head in response. "They have the same ancestors as the dragons. You know, 'Living in groups and shunning out draconic troops, watch the ledge for the ejge'." Fluttershy shrugged. "I didn't think they were real. Nopony has ever really seen them before," Fluttershy said. Celestia cleared her throat and said: "Well, then let me just tell you what they are. Like Twilight has said, the ejge possess the same ancestor as the dragons, but they evolved with such drastic differences that nopony knows what caused them. As everypony knows, dragons are gigantic beasts whose hides are nigh impenetrable. They also have extreme muscular strength and, depending on the species, can breathe a variety of elements. Some even have some control over magic. However, the ejge are the complete opposite. Instead of having massive bodies of power, they are serpentine in appearance with a blade-like protrusion at the ends of their tales. Their scales are extremely smooth and aerodynamic, creating little to no wind resistance. They also have no eyes and two mouths on their heads. As for their wings, they are gigantic, being nearly twice the size of their owners. The ejge ARE quite small compared to dragons, though." "Then what's so special about them? They can't fight with dragons like that, not that I would want them to. I don't like it when animals hurt themselves." Fluttershy wondered "Where dragons are built for defense and strength, ejge are built for speed and agility. Their scales aren't just smooth, they're viciously sharp. Unlike dragons, the ejge will surround their entire bodies with their element and become a flying dagger. They're capable of slicing through a dragon's scales and hitting what's underneath, and where dragons are usually alone until migration or mating seasons, the ejge live in secluded societies." "That's what some researchers say, at least," Twilight interrupted. "The truth is, we know next to nothing about the ejge. Unlike the dragons who are prideful, the ejge prefer to keep to themselves, but, lately, dragons have begun invading their territory and vice versa." "What do you think is the cause?" Twilight asked. "We don't know. I was hoping that Fluttershy would be able to converse with one of the dragons were we to capture one." "Well...if he's really tightly secured...I could...If he doesn't breathe fire or...No! I couldn't! I--" "It's okay, Fluttershy. We aren't asking you to do that right away," Celestia comforted. "So, do you have any ideas on why they've become so active?" Twilight asked. "No. I don't, but my councilors and draconic researchers do. Supposedly this happens every four centuries. Strangely enough, this never happened when I was on the throne." "I wonder why," Twilight thought aloud. Without warning, several bells began to chime throughout the castle, frightening the three in the chamber. "Alert! Alert! Two dragons are attacking Canterlot. Alert! Secure and evacuate civilians. This is not a drill!" Although there were practically no guards in the castle, the thundering sound of galloping hooves rumbled throughout the castle corridors. Fluttershy decided to hide under the table, making Twilight roll her eyes. Mustering up her strength, Celestia teleported outside of the castle walls, quickly being followed by Twilight. It seemed that two very different dragons were destroying the city of Canterlot. The defenses weren't yet ready, so there was no way to properly fight them. One of them were fighting a blue alicorn from afar. While her beams and spells were good, they were only irritating the dragon. It didn't take long for the spells to stop and the flying dragon to fly away then back towards the city and belch out fire. The one smashing through the city seemed to be a poison dragon, as its body was green and seemed half-melted and it was exhaling noxious fumes. "Twilight, quickly! We have to get there and help my sister fend them off. Get as many injured as you can to safety and protect them," Celestia ordered. "Right." With a nod, Twilight and Celestia started flying towards the city. That is, until a high pitched shout that resembled freezing wind flowing through an ice cavern reached everypony's ears. For some reason, Twilight and Celestia began to tremble, and the dragons stopped their actions and looked up, the flying one looking around. There was no sound for a time, then the shout came again, and a gigantic monster flew from over the mountains. While the dragons were enormous enough that they were capable of occupying a block by themselves, this thing seemed to be much larger than even they. Without a second to spare, the flying dragon stopped flapping its wings. Before it even knew what happened, it began to compress into a singularity until it became a tiny ball that fell to the ground with a violent thunk. The other began to panic and belched out breath after breath of toxic fumes. A strange projectile of blue electricity tore away at that fumes, causing them to dissipate almost immediately, but it didn't stop there. It punched into the toxic dragon that found itself flying through the buildings of Canterlot and out of its walls just to slide into the ground and lay there. It was dead, it seemed. It didn't take long for the creature to screech again and disappear quickly into the distance, leaving silence for the wind and crackling fire to do their jobs. "Wh-what was that?! And what about Princess Luna? ...Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked Celestia while still trembling. "That...Oh no. That was the Royal Ejge. If it's out, the the King Dragon is awake as well...The Draconic Conflicts are upon us." Solv had nearly gotten the walking cycle as a dragon down. Sure, he had fallen down a couple of times, but it was becoming less frequent, and he was nearing the town. He would have perfected himself better had he not been frightened by a white, serpentine creature that landed right in front of him. It was slightly smaller than he was. "What in Talos' name? What manner of creature are you? What do you want?"
